After the End

Breakfast at Manning Park

It's been three weeks since I made it to Canada with Portrait right behind me.  That night we camped at the PCT Camp roughly four miles north of the border. The next day we hiked to Manning Park and then caught the bus to Vancouver. We didn't see much of the city beyond our hostel window. Portrait might have been up for sight seeing, but I know I wasn't. I had a hard enough time moving from the kitchen upstairs to our room on the main floor.

My tendons have been healing. By the time we caught our flight back to the east coast more than a week had passed since we had finished and I wasn't hobbling around anymore.  While still hiking we had talked about how we would be a couple of slugs on the sofa at Portrait's uncle's house. I took that daydream to heart and read a book cover to cover on that couch with a blanket, snacks, and hot drinks.

Hiking in New Hampshire

Since being back in Vermont I have gone on two very short day hikes--both only a couple of miles. It was nice not to worry about miles, to be packless, and not hiking through pain. I was much more interested in the PCT party my parents threw for me and Portrait. There was another Castle cake and sugar cookies decorated as boot prints, mountains, and the PCT symbol. There were friends and family members that I hadn't seen for months--many well before the start of the hike.

PCT sugar cookies

A few days after my party I finally got around to weighing my pack. I had started with a 17 pound base weight. I had sent home my first round of stuff after hiking 110 miles. In Washington, with my tendons hurting more every day, I sent stuff home or left stuff behind at every town stop, Steven's Pass and Stehkin being the most dramatic weight drops. I have updated my gear list to show what I was left with by the time I made it to Canada. At the border I had an 8 pound base weight plus food and water and that was still more weight than my tendons wanted to carry.

While hiking Portrait and I spent many hours planning how I could have a lighter pack next time. We are already planning on hiking the Continental Divide Trail next year. Hopefully we will be hiking northbound from Mexico to Canada, but that depends on the snow this winter. We'll have plenty to keep us busy over the winter: making super ultralight packs, a new sleeping bag for me, a new tent, different rain gear, dehydrating my food, route planning, applying for permits. There will be no end to the tasks. 

Neither Portrait or I plan on keeping a daily blog on the CDT. At the beginning of the hike I enjoyed writing my blog and I still enjoyed it later on in the hike when I was waking up at 5 a.m. to write for an hour because I no longer had the energy or the time to write in the evening. Blogging started to eat into my hiking time and I could hardly afford to loose hiking time and on the CDT, with a more rugged and longer trail, I doubt I can keep up with a blog.

Blogging also ate into my town time. I wasn't good at staying up to date. At each town stop I needed to write a few entries and ended up spending hours on the computer typing away. In town blogging was a chore that I came to dread. My favorite town stops were the ones where I wasn't on the computer: Independence, Sierra City, Burney, Siead Valley. I am glad to have a record of my hike, and I do feel a sense of disappointment that I won't have such a record for the CDT.

We are planning on keeping some kind of record of our hike. We talked about it often while hiking and have some ideas. Our goal is to do something fun and easy. Stay tuned.

Day 160- Let's Go to Canada for Lunch.

From campsite at mile 2649 to Canada at mile 2660

I didn't sleep well, not because I was excited but because not sleeping well has become my new sleep routine lately. Even though I was awake early we didn't get a very early start. I took some extra time to French braid my hair. The clouds in the sky went from pink cotton candy wisps to gray strands while I fought my hair tame. Portrait fiddled on his phone while waiting for me. Team All Dead left their camp just before us.

The last sunrise

We climbed up to Woody Pass so quickly that I didn't even have time to warm up. From the top of the pass I looked out on a sky full of clouds--some of them thick and dark. Portrait thought the Golden Year was just holding its breath and it would rain as soon as we reached the monument. We had day after day of bright cloudless days and I was more than a little disappointed that today was the day the weather picked to threaten rain. It felt like a broken promise.

The trail didn't go down like it usually does after a pass. We did some side hill while looking out at shadow peaks in the distance. There was one mountain with snow patches on its side that looked bigger than all the rest that the sun had picked out to light up.  It stood out like a gem among the other dull mountains. There was a quick ridge walk with shortened views thanks to the clouds. From the ridge we could see a lake that was one of the few listed water sources for the day, but we weren't planning on going off trail to it.

Leaving the ridge walk we finally started the down hill--downhill the rest of the way to Canada. Shortly after the ridge I heard voices and whinnies--horses were coming up the trail. There was a large flat area full of huckleberry plants that we stepped into to make way for the two riders and their horses. Their asked if we were thru-hikers, and congratulated us on our last day. After the had ridden on by we got back on trail and hurried on north.

Team All Dead had clustered at a campsite near the junction with the trail to the lake. We kept going, not needing a break yet. We wanted to be at Canada for lunch. I liked the way that sounded: let's go to Canada for lunch. We were moving along at a good pace--not as fast as going to Harts Pass and not at Town Pace, which I hadn't been able to hike at for awhile now due to my tendons, but we were on track to get to Canada in time for lunch.

We came to another trail junction and went just a little further on and then stopped for a snack. Somewhere near the ridge walk we started to play the game Favorite and Least Favorite. We asked each other favorite and least favorite hitch, snack, town meal, trail magic, hostel and the list kept going--Portrait asked me what my favorite rock was. We continued to play during our snack. It was another fun way to remember our hike and it avoided thoughts of after the hike.

Team All Dead passed us while we were packing up and getting underway again. They were slackpacking the ten miles to the monument and then back to where we had all camped. Their packs looked wonderfully small. It was almost hard not to be jealous, but they still had 30 miles to hike after reaching the monument.

I had hoped the clouds would move on as we hiked, but they seemed to move in instead. All the blue sky was crowded out as the sky grew darker. The trail dropped us into a more forested section cutting off my views of stormy clouds and I mostly stopped thinking about them for awhile. We came to a level area where little campsites nestled in the trees and a small grassy meadow had a fire pit and sitting logs. We were at Castle Pass. Back at Sierra City Opus had been flipping through a National Geographic article on the Washington PCT and came across a monument picture with a sign saying Castle Pass and an arrow pointing south. Since then I had been looking forward to Castle Pass, even with all the other Castle named places that I saw. This Castle Pass seemed cozy--I would have liked to stay there, but some other time when I didn't have such a strong desire to eat lunch in another country. No Amp passed us as Portrait took my picture with the Castle Pass sign. Somebody had Sharpie marker-ed onto the sign that we had 3 miles left. Portrait said it was actually 3.6.

We stepped over a dozen little streams in the next couple of miles. We went in and out of heavy forest as we switchbacked downhill. Portrait thought we would hear Canada before we saw it--he thought Team All Dead was sure to celebrate loudly. We saw it first, though. A long thin clear-cut strip running down a mountain. The trail went close enough to Canada to kiss that strip, and then it switchbacked and we went away from the border. We almost touched the border a few more times--each time I thought there would be the monument even though the area didn't fit with the pictures I had seen of the monument. Then we could hear voices below us: loud, happy, and excited voices.

The trail ducked back into the forest, hiding the border from me and then I really felt a sense of anticipation. I smiled at the trail builders--they knew what they were doing when they sent the trail through a clearing with the border in sight and then into trees to hide the monument until the last footfall. The voice grew louder as we grew closer...and so did the disappointment that we wouldn't have the monument all to ourselves. It felt a little like somebody else opened my Christmas present.

I thought the monument would be right in front of me when I walked into the clearing. I thought the trail would dead end at its base. Instead the monument was off to my left and the trail continued, unbroken, into Canada. Team All Dead was scattered around the small clearing, sitting in the dirt making signs and reading the register. Buckket was handing out chocolate as we came into the clearing. I put down my pack and ate my chocolate while looking at the five pillars that made up the monument. The PCT logo on the tallest, an American flag and a Canadian one one the second tallest pillar, and trail information on the others. And looking at it I felt peaceful. It was the same feeling I felt atop Springer Mountain at the end of my '09 thru-hike. I felt calm, happy, proud of myself, and grateful to be there and under that I felt tired, worn down, and aching. I hardly touched the monument before sitting down to my lunch--everybody seemed to be giving the monument space. We sat, in a loose semi-circle, facing the monument like we were children in a classroom and it was our teacher.

Trail name poster

I ate lunch leaning against my pack. Portrait took pictures of Tortoise standing on the top-most pillar and then he took some photos for Team All Dead. While they climbed over the monument the sky started spiting a few raindrops on us. We all looked a the sky in disbelief. Would it really rain on our last day when we hadn't had a day of rain in months? It seemed unfair and I started to grow very anxious watching Team All Dead posing for another dozen pictures. I didn't want my finish photo showing me sopping wet wearing a trash bag as a rain poncho. I didn't want that photo summing up my hike--it would have been wrong. I tried not to stress about it--it could be a funny story if there was a sudden down pour. The few drips stopped. Team All Dead relinquished the monument to others.

Whoever designed the monument built it with climbing in mind, I'm sure. It would have fit in at a playground. I went up to the monument while Portrait stood ready with three different cameras. The lowest pillar was the perfect height to step on and made a nice stairway to the other pillars. And there I was perched on the tallest pillar, my arms outstretched, and I grinned.

Day 159- Counting Down

From the campground at Harts Pass at mile 2630 to campsite at mile 2649

Chris making coffee

We waited until we heard voices and car doors closing before packing up and joining the trail magic. We finally met our host, Gordo's Dad, who hadn't made it back to camp until 9:30 the night before. He unloaded breakfast from his Jeep: oranges, English muffins, brownies, and other goodies like chips and veggie sticks. Coffee and hot chocolate was made by Where's Chris at her site (and a shout out to Charles who wasn't able to help with the trail magic today).

Some of the coffee drinkers

Shortly before nine Portrait and I grabbed our packs--it was time to start our last 20 mile day. Gordo's Dad pointed us down the road to pick up the trail. Face Plant left at the same time as us and was quickly out of sight up the ridge.

It was warm and sunny walking up hill along the mostly treeless ridge. There wasn't a cloud in the sky. The tamarack trees were vibrant against the blue sky. A few ridges to the south the smoke was still there--nearly black against the blue sky.

Six miles in we stopped for water. Cheese caught up while I was filling my bottle. That whole group had left about a half hour after us. I took extra water to drink with lunch which I thought was going to be on top of the ridge right after the stream. It took us less than a half hour to climb to the top of the ridge--it was a lot closer than I realized. Tortoise, who had passed us earlier, was sitting in the shade eating a snack and taking in the view.

The trail dropped off the ridge and went along a side hill for a couple miles. I was pretty sure we were going to stop for lunch before the next water but then there was no place to sit and relax. Two miles from the water we stopped so I could drink the water I had been carrying and then dump all but a sip out. Minutes later we came to a wonderful view where we again found Tortoise sitting in the shade having a snack and enjoying the view. Had I not just dumped my water I would have had lunch there.

At the stream I ate with gusto--my food bag had too much in it for the time left. Face Plant, Tortoise, Cheese, Bone Lady, No Amp, and lastly Buckket all arrived at the stream for lunch as well. Portrait informed everybody as they hiked up that there was only 19 miles left. I thought it was a nice sounding number.

Portrait and I left after Face Plant knowing the others would catch up and pass. They caught up while we were talking to two thru-hikers who had finished yesterday and were on their way back to Harts Pass. They had heard about a short cut for the way back to Harts Pass that cut off two miles and elevation change that they told the others about while we hiked onward.

It was a long downhill and I took more Advil for my creaking tendons. I was happy to get to the bottom of the hill and start the next climb. My happiness didn't last too long: I was hot and tired at this point and my tendons hurt. I knew we were stopping at the next water and I was looking for it at every switchback. It appeared about 20 minutes after I was ready for it. I drank my fill but didn't carry much--there was more water coming up.

Portrait filling up and Tortoise waiting his turn

We continued to climb. We didn't check out the next spring that was a mile later. A half mile after that was another spring and the end of the climb. The spring was tiny. Just a few stands of water coming off moss into a little pool. I tried dipping water and ended up with cloudy water before sticking my bottle under a moss drip. It was a longer water break than expected.

The trail continued on a side hill and then instead of taking us to the pass it took us down a mile so we could go back up for two miles. There was a short cut over a scree scramble, but we skipped it. It wasn't that bad losing so much elevation just to regain it all. At six we still had a mile to the pass and we stopped for a snack--I really needed one. I was feeling like a mile of uphill would take the rest of the night. We saw Backwoods who had finished yesterday on his way back to Harts just as we were finishing snack.

After snack a mile felt like a mile again--it's a wonderful thing what sugar can do. Portrait heard voices off to our right and we followed a small path to where Team All Dead was starting dinner chores. They had all taken the short cut and said it had its scary moments, but wasn't as bad as the guide book said. No Amp came into camp shortly after us and everybody had dinner. The end seemed to be on everybody's mind--we used the word last a lot. Ten miles to the border in the morning, then one more night out for me and Portrait with nine miles to Manning Park and a road.

Team All Dead having dinner

Day 158- Racing To Harts

From campsite at mile 2609 to campground at Harts Pass at mile 2630

Ice clung to the inside of the tent when I woke up at 5:30 to blog. I had slept warm mummied up in my sleeping bag. Just before 6:30 Portrait and I got up, and we got up quickly. The ground was covered in frost. The other tents had frost muting their bright green, blue, and orange colors. My tent was stiff with ice as I tried to fold it up with stiff fingers. Portrait shoved the tent in his side water pocket so it wouldn't get anything else wet. We waved to Bone Lady who sat up just as we were leaving. I could almost hear her thinking we were crazy as she hunkered down into her sleeping bag.

Frosted campsite

The trail went up for a mile to the pass and I was warm from toes to fingers before reaching the top. The sun was up but lurking behind a ridge, but the day was warming up anyways. The campsite on top of the ridge where I had wanted to camp looked like it had more frost than our spot and didn't have as awesome of a view.

The other side of the ridge was in deep cold shadows. I went from almost being too hot in my jacket and hat going up to a little chilly on the way down. We were moving right along though. We had five miles done before nine--four of it being downhill. The descent without using my trekking poles made my tendons complain loudly. I took more Advil when we took a break at a stream, but I left my poles attached to my pack--I wasn't ready to freeze my fingers again.

The trail leveled out and brought us into a sunny field. It felt great to finally be in the sun. We stopped to shed layers and get my poles out. It was time to take my hands out of my pockets. It stayed warm and mostly sunny as we hiked in and out of forest and fields.

At a small bridge over a creek we stopped for a break. Portrait draped the tent over the railing--ice tumbled into the river. I ate chocolate that Opus sent us in a care package at Stehikin. We both put on sunblock.

After the creek we started our first long climb of the day. We aimed to make a campsite 2.6 miles into the climb for lunch. While going up we followed the creek we had just gotten water at as it grew wider and slower moving. We made it to the campsite just in time-my stomach said it was lunch time. Portrait put the tent out to dry while we ate in a very small patch of sun. I was nearly as cold at the end of lunch as I had been leaving camp.

The trail continued its climb and went through red huckleberry fields so I warmed up quickly. There were a few more wispy clouds today than yesterday, but the day was just as lovely. It was warm out but there were faint hints of coolness- -quintessence autumn weather.

I was having a wonderful time by the top of the climb. I followed a little spur trail up to a higher point all happy and grinning and glad to be out there hiking. The view was wonderful. I had a snack and looked out at the next five or so miles of trail snack along a far ridge.

Looking off towards Harts Pass

We pushed on. We were hoping for trail magic at Harts Pass. I don't think you're really supposed to hope for trail magic but we knew magic had been happening there and it seemed likely it would continue while the bulk of hikers came through. We had a little hustle in our steps (or I did whenever my Advil was working).

The trail brought us along the shoulder of the ridges teasing us with a ridge walk that we could see was coming up but the trail kept unfolding along the shoulder of the mountain. We call it hidden trail when we can look out from a view point and follow the course of the trail along the ridge for miles and then when we hike it the trail folds around every curve of the mountain that we hadn't known was there.

At the spring we met up with Face Plant, then Bone Lady showed up and then a few others who I didn't know. We were all racing for Harts.

From the short ridge walk we were able to look down on the road that went through Harts Pass. If there was a trail magic tent down there we couldn't see it. We were four miles away at that point and could see the trail until it hooked around the shoulder of the mountain. Bone Lady caught up with us again right as we started the descent down the other side of the ridge.

Two miles from the road Bone Lady was slightly ahead talking to a guy going south. From her body language I thought he was telling her Harts Pass was a ghost town, instead he told us that there was magic but the guy doing it had went into town to resupply. I didn't know until Bone Lady told me that the southbounder was Wiseman, done with the thru-hike and going south for 80 miles.

We continued to hustle down the trail. My tendons started to protest all forms of walking and I promised them the end for the day and for the hike was very close. We were hoping the guy would be back from town by the time we arrived, but it wasn't to be.

We made ourselves at home at his picnic table. He had left a cooler of water out for us and Where's Chris, another Trail Angel, told us to use whatever we needed (fuel, Advil, mole skin) and handed out apples.

Time passed and more hikers showed up. We ended up being a large group: everybody from camp last night, plus Supergirl, and the four I didn't really know. We ate our dinners and it got dark out a cloud dropped a few rain drops on us then went on its way. People started drifting off to their tents around 8. Portrait and I called it a night just before 8:30 when our host still wasn't there.

Day 157-The Last Mile Marker

From Six Mile Camp at mile 2591 to campsite at mile 2609

It was a cold morning once we left camp. It put me in a really bad mood. I had sent home my mittens ages ago and really missed them hiking this morning. It felt like I sent home everything that made camp comfortable so I was unhappy hiking and now unhappy in camp. It took until the sun found me to get out of my funk because once my hands warmed up hiking didn't seem so bad. I had taken some Alive so I didn't hurt and I started to enjoy the day.

We hiked upwards for six miles heading towards Rainy Pass. For over a mile the trail hugged the highway. We could see cars zooming by through the thin screen of trees that separated us from the highway. Finally we came to the road crossing and met up with Bone Lady there and shortly we met up with Cheese. Portrait and I were hoping to find trail magic at the road, but it wasn't to be.

Bone Lady and Cheese stopped in the parking lot to eat some baked goods--I'm still sad I didn't pack out more baked goods. We hiked on, wanting to get to the 2600 mile mark to make a sign and have lunch. Right after leaving the parking lot I spotted a cooler--empty except for crushed cans. Portrait kept an eye on his GPS so we wouldn't go by 2600.

We had collected some berries during the morning to use for our sign. I cleared a spot on the trail when we arrived. Portrait started work on the 2 while I ate a small snack. I made the 6 and right when I finished Bone Lady and Cheese came up. She wondered how many miles we had really hiked by this point. It's probably a couple hundred more. They lingered until the sign was done, took a picture, and hiked onwards. We had lunch there then hiked on.

At Porcupine Creek we stopped to drink up so we didn't have to carry much water. While there we met a day hiker who wanted to know how she could do trail magic. While we talked to her, Buckket joined us and added his opinions. When she left Buckket speed off saying something about caffeine. Tortoise also passed us on the beginning of the climb up to Cut Throat Pass.

At a cute little waterfall where we stopped to drink more water No Amp caught up. We left as she filled her bottle expecting her to pass us soon. We saw a school group coming down from the pass and we passed a weekender couple going up. From one of the switchbacks near the top of the pass I spotted No Amp working her way up.

The day was beautiful climbing up. The sky was so blue-more so than usual I think. There were a lot of yellows against the sky really complementing the deep blue. The smoke had cleared out finally. We could see it peaking over a distance ridge--I hope it stays over there. Without the smoke it was a perfect autumn day.

The top of the pass was stunning. The next ridge was jagged it seemed to cut into the blue sky. Yellow Tamarac trees filled the slope between our ridge and the next one. We found Bucket and Tortoise taking a break and joined them and No Amp showed up not long after.

Everybody trickle away from the beautiful spot to do more hiking. Portrait and I were the last to leave after putting on sun screen. We walked along the shoulder of the ridge still taking in the views. We only had five miles left and it was still early so I didn't feel rushed at all. We have it planned so the last few days of the hike will be shorter and unrushed.

There was a hiker cluster about a mile after the pass. Everybody from the day was there. They had their pads out and shoes off. We didn't really join them. I didn't feel the need for another break--I prefer camp.

One of Washington's many failed bridges

The trail took us around to the other side of the ridge--I keep hoping to see Canada (soon I think). We went down a ways all the while seeing the trail high on the next ridge. Finally we stopped loosing elevation and crossed to the other ridge. The climb was so gentle it felt like flat trail. I ate a Milky Way while hiking and taking in the view.

There wasn't water where we were planning to camp so we filled up at a nice little spring to make sure we didn't end up dry at camp. Moments after filling up, Cheese caught up. We were going to let him by, but he said not to bother because we were at camp. I hadn't notice the camping off to my left with a magnificent view of the Cascades. Portrait and I had planned to go another mile to the top of the pass while everyone else planned to camp at the first spot. I knew Portrait wanted to stay, I did too, but that meant 21 miles for the next day. Once I realized how cold it was going to be, I was fine with not going to the pass.

We all had dinner talking about TV and mice. As soon as Portrait and I were done, we put up the tent. I was cold and couldn't wait to get into my bag. We had the tent up, teeth brushed, and in our sleeping bags by 7:15.

Day 156- Hiker Bridge Party

From Stehekin at mile 2580 to Six Mile Camp at mile 2591

There was a hiker reunion when at the High Bridge bus stop again. We saw Oops looking a little worn down. Super Girl was there. I hadn't seen him since Kennedy Meadows (mile 700). I hadn't even known Super Girl was still hiking--last I saw him his plan was to hike only CA.

I ate two slices of bakery pizza before Portrait and I left the parking lot. I'm not sure what I was thinking when I bought only two slices. We also trimmed some of the straps off my GoLite saving me a few ounces.

As people left the parking lot for the trail half went up the dirt road alternate and half stuck to the trail. The road was washed out a few years ago and the guide book made it sound like hikers risk death going that way (but they save a mile). We took the trail. If a short cut sounds harder and more time consuming we're not really interested. I also don't want to do anything that will hurt my tendons more like walk on unstable rocks for miles.

The trail was nice anyways. It had a few small ups and downs and it's really hot out for the end of September so I got pretty warm. The smoke had cleared out though. It felt like the first time in days that we were able to look up and see blue sky.

My pack was feeling light. It didn't feel like I had just left town with a five day resupply on my back. It was hard not to wonder why I hadn't swapped packs earlier. The GoLite doesn't feel as padded as my North Face and it's not as light as Portrait's pack, but it was lighter than what I was used to.

We had been following the Stehekin River the whole afternoon. Sometimes it was out of sight but we could still hear it down in its gorge. We hiked closer to the river and it rose up out of its gorge to meet us. From a ways away I saw a bridge with someone on it. We guessed it was Tortoise and so it was, but not just him.

We found a whole party going on. Bone Lady, Cheese, Bucket, No Amp, and Tortoise were all sitting on the bridge. Half the group had their jackets on like they had been there a while (which they probably had). Tortoise tossed everybody a couple of Starburst--if you didn't catch it the candy would probably fall between the cracks and fall into the river below. The whole group was thinking about camping on the bridge. It didn't seem like a nice idea to me--too cold with wind coming up between the cracks. We stayed for a bit and left them going over maps and mileage.

Bone Lady, Cheese, No Amp, Tortoise, Buckket, and Portrait

The trail went up after the river, but not very much. We crossed another small creek at the horse ford instead of the neat looking suspension bridge--it was too far uphill for my tired tendons. My tendons really started to ache 0.8 from camp. I think they know when the day is almost over.

The camp was 0.1 off trail. Lots of flat areas to pick from. We picked a tent site by the noisy little creek that was our water source. No one else showed up by the time we finished dinner around 7pm or by the time the tent was up at dark. I guess they opted for the bridge.

Day 155 Darkness Into Stehekin

From Five Mile Camp at mile 2575 to Stehekin at mile 2580

It was very dark at 4:45 when my watch alarm went off. It was warm in the tent so getting out of my sleeping bag wasn't a hardship.

Portrait and I packed up by headlamp. We couldn't see anyone else up yet. The campsite was quiet and dark when we left at 5:30.

A log bridge took us across the small creek that had been our water source the night before. There was another small creek that we had to rock hopped across--once we were sure the trail continued on the other side. It was a little hard to tell in the night time darkness.

Our chariot to town 

The trail on the other side was nice for hiking by headlamp. It didn't have too many rocks or roots and wasn't badly over grown like the trail from a couple of days ago.

Slowly it started getting lighter. At first it was only lighter than it had been--everything was black shadows instead of inky night surrounding us. Then the lightest colors returned to the world. The light gray rocks were first followed by light yellow Huckleberry leaves and then light green ferns got their colors back. The dark greens and browns of the pine trees returned slowly-the last to show up.

It did not become full daylight. The thick cloud of smoke smothered the sun. The light looked like the dark that precedes a storm. But this storm made my eyes sting a bit and tasted bad.

The trail had been following Anges Creek since yesterday and it started to switchback down to it. The creek had grown a lot since we crossed it near its headwaters around lunch time yesterday. As we had walked along it the waters had slowly carved a canyon into the rocks. Where it wasn't white rapids the water was a light blue and clear. We crossed the creek on an iron and wood bridge fifty feet above the churning water.

Team All Dead on the bus

The trail went up a little after the bridge and Portrait spotted a car and another bridge. Almost there and with plenty of time to spare. We walked down a short section of dirt road and crossed the bridge over the Stehekin River--one of the cleanest rivers in the country.

We were reading the information board when Bone Lady walked up. The others trickled into the waiting area within a half hour. No one else showed up except the seven of us before the bus roared into sight.

The flowers at an organic farm near town

The bus wasn't a school bus like I had expected, but a red bus with class. The front end looked like it could plow through anything. The best part of the bus: it was full of hikers. Frost got off followed by a dozen other hikers that I had met--most of them recently. Portrait and I wished Frost luck on the rest of his hike. There is no more catching up with people after Stehekin  last town, last zero and nero chances. Everybody on the bus waved goodbye to the hikers milling around as the bus lurched onto the road.